Community grants
79 community projects in Warwickshire successfully bid for Smart Start funding for programmes which aim to give children aged 0-5 years the best start in life.
£250,000 has been made available to community groups, charities, social enterprises and local projects from across Warwickshire from the Smart Start community grants fund. Each project will receive a one-off payment of up to £2,500 or a larger amount from a joint bid. Each project had to meet one or more of the following priorities:
- Access to learning activities
- Access to play and learn areas and equipment
- Improving the health and wellbeing of children aged 0-5 and their families
- Activities helping to develop parent-child bonding and attachment
- Activities which help children to develop self-help and social skills
- Activities which help parents develop skills to interact with their children and support their development
- Initiatives that support most vulnerable families with 0-5s, including those with special needs, living in isolation and/or from poorer backgrounds.
Information about the bidding process Smart Start Community Grants – 08.03.2017 (PDF, 450.88 KB)
| Project code | Organisation | Location of Project | Panel | Funds Agreed | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CW2 | The Ups of Downs | Countywide | Rugby | £1,986 | Providing a two day specialist training to early years providers and parent/carers working with children with Down Syndrome. |
| CW1 | Family Learning, Adult & Community learning | Countywide | Rugby | £2,500 | Training of REAM (Raising Early Achievement in Mathematics) for all Family Learning Tutors and 20 other practitioners from a range of services. |
| CW4 | Birth to Three Portage Service – Bonding and Play Programme | Countywide | Rugby | £2,500 | The Portage Bonding and Play Programme consists of six weekly home visits to each family, using a range of strategies through play to strengthen the attachment between parent/carer and child. |
| CW3 | Integrated Disability Service | Countywide | Rugby | £1,000 | Your Smart Start Grant will cover the development of online IDS (Integrated Disability Service) information resources – to be maintained by trained parent volunteers |
| NW026 | Brooklyn Private Day Nursery Ltd | Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | Will offer 3 free parent/child workshops to the local community – Baby Workshop – 0-2years/Tweenie Explorers – 2-3years/Preschoolers – 3-5years |
| NW016 | St Francis Catholic Primary School | Bedworth | North | £2,500 | Establishing a stay and play group, open to the community, which will support EAL 0-5s and their parents. This will help to improve transition into school for EAL children |
| NW041 | Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs (WAYC) | Nuneaton/Bedworth | North | £2,480 | To work with young parents (15-25yrs) on low incomes, in supported accommodation, who have been in the care system, are socially isolated and/or are NEET living in Nuneaton and Bedworth to create a group, meeting weekly. |
| NW024 | Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery | Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | Project is to develop a self led Museum Explorer resource in the form of a portable pack |
| NW021 | Stockingford Early Years Centre & Library | Nuneaton | North | £900 | Establish a shared resource which can be used by the settings across the locality ensuring access to health promotion information and resources, both in the nursery and for children to take home and share with their families. |
| NW033 | Barnardo’s – North Warwickshire Children’s Centres Group | Atherstone | North | £2,500 | To promote and support breast feeding within Riversley Park Children’s Centre by purchasing 2 leather sofa’s and decorating and upgrading the private breastfeeding area. |
| NW036 | Northern Warwickshire Active Community Foundation & Nuneaton Harriers Community Association | Nuneaton | North | £5,000 | Running a twice weekly motor skill development programme for a 10 week block of delivery per group. The programme will follow the concepts developed within the Successful Kinesthetic Instruction for Preschoolers programme. |
| NW007 | Sports & Leisure Management, Jubilee Sports Centre | Hinckley | North | £2,397.84 | Active Antz is a weekly stay and play session which involves use of bouncy castle, soft play toys and sports equipment for 0-5 years. These are free sessions for the community of Nuneaton & Bedworth. |
| NW001 | Life Church EU | Bedworth | North | £2,500 | Purchasing a range of exploratory resources for the outdoor area eg bug hotel, mud kitchen as well as equipment to encourage physical activity eg balance bikes, ball games. They will also be putting on a termly gardening/outdoor play focused workshop for parents to attend with their children. |
| NW014 | Little Gems Initiative (Partnership with Barnardo’s) |
Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | Equipment for messy play sessions & for younger babies who attend the playgroup. It will also be used to arrange an outing to All Things Wild Nature Park. As well as hosting cooking workshops for children to attend with parents/grandparents. |
| NW005 | St Michael’s CE Academy | Bedworth | North | £2,500 | ‘5 weeks programme focused on developing the parents reading skills in order for them to better support their own children initially and potentially other families in the future. |
| NW019 | Oak Wood Schools Academy | Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | ‘Little Gems’ weekly stay and play group where 10 SEND children and their families can access specialist play and learning areas which can support their growth and development, through modelling pay and communication strategies alongside parents and by bringing parents together. |
| NW020 | Lottie’s Tots | Tamworth | North | £2,500 | To provide age appropriate physical and cognitive play; giving the children the opportunity to enhance social skills. Take turns and cooperate whilst increasing their independence and self sufficiency in a safe environment. |
| NW030 | Little Glendalers Pre-School (Private) | Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | Building a summerhouse in the nursery garden to be used for rhyme and story time for children in the wider community as well as other services such as HV or CAB. It will also be used to work with children within the nursery to improve their speech and language. |
| NW002 | Ansley Common Residents Association | Nuneaton | North | £7,500 | Toddler play equipment at Brett’s Hall Estate Recreation Ground |
| NW017 | Khair in the Community | Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | Start up and run a parent and toddler group, 2 hour weekly session. |
| NW031 | Outreach and Community Action Project | Nuneaton | North | £2,487 | Start up and run a performing arts class for children 1-5yrs. The class will focus on delivering a program of dance, drama, singing, British sign Language, story telling and creative play. |
| NW035 | Camp Hill Young Peoples Holiday Scheme (CHYPS) | Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | To provide day trips for families and children aged 0-5 yrs throughout the year. |
| NW042 | Race Leys Infant School | Bedworth | North | £2,079.84 | Launching 2 ‘WOW days’ for families in reception year, to encourage parents to understand, involve them in and encourage their children to engage in learning in school. The days will include fun and imaginative fine motor and Rhyme time activities. |
| NW038 | St Michael’s Nurture Nursery | Bedworth | North | £2,500 | Will develop a Parent’s as Partners “Learning Together” programme which will actively engage parents in the project and enables them to provide specific learning opportunities to use at home this will enable them to enhance their child’s progress and development. |
| NW015 | Bedworth Health and Atherstone nurseries | Bedworth Heath | North | £2,500 | They will be promoting and improving the health and wellbeing of 0-5’s and their families in regards to Oral Health within their two Nursery Schools, including family workshops. |
| NW022 | Baddesley Ensor Parish Council | Atherstone | North | £2,500 | re-instate a second session for Parents and Toddler Group |
| NW010 | St Mary’s Stay and Play | Atherstone | North | £2,500 | Developing facilities for Stay & Play group, including a nappy changing station and outdoor play area. Also looking to increase running from one to two mornings. |
| NW004 | Okey Cokey Playgroup | Nether Whitacre | North | £2,000 | Purchasing new play equipment to stimulate and develop all children from birth to 5 with a hope to offer more varied sessions per week. |
| NW013 | The Baby Hubs | Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | Providing stay and play Nurture hub, baby massage and therapeutic art sessions. |
| NW018 | Little Saints Stay and Play | Nuneaton | North | £1,500 | Purchasing appropriately sized tables and chairs and soft mats for the baby area. |
| NW011 | The Links Daycare Centre Ltd | Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | Purchasing in ICT equipment – Tilt and Touch Table with integrated software programmes |
| NW023 | Friends of Daffers Wood, The Village Playgroup, Jelly Beans Nurture Nursery | New Arley | North | £7,500 | Setting up a forest school base camp in Daffern’s Woods. As well as setting up a new community playgroup running at Arley Community Centre, ran by parents who are active in the community and have a wealth of experience working with young children. |
| NW027 | Little Learners Day Nursery Ltd | Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | Creating a full sized sit in sand pit and an area for a mud kitchen, providing two additional open-ended play spaces that will allow them to become absorbed for hours in their own self resourced play. |
| NW028 | The Canons CE Primary School | Bedworth | North | £2,500 | Two booklets and on line resources to support the child and parent as part of a wider and more innovative induction process with possible use of parent volunteers for parent to parent peer support |
| NW039 | The Caterpillar Club Nursery | Coleshill | North | £2,000 | Improving outdoor facilities including wicker tunnels and a large and two smaller canopies. The outside area will be open to the weekly parent and toddler group which is ran on the school site. |
| NW037 | Peter Pan Pre-School & Nursery | Nuneaton | North | £2,092 | Purchasing fencing, garden tools and seeds etc for a growing garden. Planting days will be held for the whole family to attend. |
| NW029 | Nuneaton Group’s Children Centres, Riversley | Nuneaton | North | £2,000 | Active Antz is a weekly stay and play session which involves use of bouncy castle, soft play toys and sports equipment for 0-5 years. These are free sessions for the community of Nuneaton & Bedworth. |
| NW025 | Noah’s Ark Pre-School | Bedworth | North | £2,500 | Purchasing a range of exploratory resources for the outdoor area eg bug hotel, mud kitchen as well as equipment to encourage physical activity eg balance bikes, ball games. They will also be putting on a termly gardening/outdoor play focused workshop for parents to attend with their children. |
| NW032 | Family Intervention Counselling Service CIC | Bedworth | North | £5,000 | To run a pilot project offering one-to-one counselling for preschool aged children and their mothers who are in emergency accommodation due to fleeing abusive relationships. |
| NW040 | Cheeky Monkeys Day Nursery | Nuneaton | North | £2,500 | Free group sessions to support families and the local community. Sessions such as first aid for parents, messy play workshops, fitness groups for parent and child etc |
| R013 | Mini Play Rangers | Rugby | Rugby | £15,400 | Title of project ‘Mini Play Rangers’. Will extend existing Play Rangers to 0-5yrs. Focused on physical activity promotion and development of gross motor skills. Activities for 0-5s families in outdoor settings. Will up-skill/train current and new volunteers. |
| R006 | Rugby Methodist Church Centre | Rugby | Rugby | £2,130 | To provide new summer holiday group for families to have fun and experience a range of high quality learning opportunities. |
| R007 | Bilton Evangelical Church | Bilton | Rugby | £2,500 | To purchase equipment for the toddler groups and summer holiday club, including role play puppets, messy play/sensory equipment. |
| R008 | Brooke School (lead partner), Noah’s Early Year Centres, FOBS | Rugby | Rugby | £7,500 | To provide a range of fun and educational activities for parents and their children (0-5 yrs) with SEN/D. Covering sensory, physical, communication and social development. |
| R002 | St Andrew’s Benn Primary School | Rugby | Rugby | £1,674 | To purchase climbing equipment for the outside area, including Totem climbing poles to be used by under 5 and reception children in nursery. |
| R005 | Rugby United Reformed Church & Whitehall Pre-School | Rugby | Rugby | £3,660 | Refurbish outside garden play area of Whitehall Community Hall for use by mother baby and infant toddler group and preschool. |
| R009 | Ready Steady Go’ Circles Network | Rugby | Rugby | £2,500 | To provide a programme of play, learning and communication to 15-30 disadvantaged 0-5s families (SEND, mental health issues, workless etc) in outdoor countryside environment with ponies and horses. |
| R010 | Bradby Club | Rugby | Rugby | £2,500 | To provide outdoor activities/trips to farms to encourage bonding with parents and children. To also build more infant and child development activities into the group, including craft work, sensory play. |
| R001 | Sunbeams Toddler Group | Hillmorton | Rugby | £2,000 | To build outdoor play facilities at Rogers Hall, where toddler group is based to provide a variety of learning opportunities to children. |
| S/C029 | EYP Solutions CIC, Parenting Project, Studley Community Infants School, St Mary’s Catholic Primary School | Studley | South and Central | £8,000 | Aims to build on all information that is already available on school readiness, to ensure that all children in Studley Village are ready for school via training and transition programmes. |
| S/C012 | Central Warks Branch of NCT (Parent’s in Mind national pilot project) | Leamington Spa | South and Central | £2,500 | To support delivery of training for between 8-12 volunteers who will be peer supporters for over 100 women in Warwickshire. |
| S/C008 | Family Matters in Warwickshire | Henley in Arden | South and Central | £4,500 | Training for Dr Helen Andrews in Video Interaction Guidance and to work with families with babies and young children in the Children’s Centres. |
| S/C004 | Own Books | Henley in Arden | South and Central | £2,500 | To enable children and their families to have access to age appropriate free books on an ongoing basis and to encourage early love of books and reading. |
| S/C044 | Warwick Nursery School | Warwick | South and Central | £2,150 | To develop parent-child interactions and bonding, and to give parents the skills they need to support their children’s learning and improve school readiness via a yearly timetable for the stay and play sessions. |
| S/C020 | Little Willows Pre-School | Whitnash | South and Central | £2,500 | Will be investing in technological resources that will ensure and promote inclusive access to unlimited learning for children with Special Education Needs (SEN). |
| S/C027 | Time 4 Hope | Leamington Spa | South and Central | £2,500 | To run a 4 week programme of 3hrs session on one day a week to three groups throughout the year to successfully reduces the emotional stress and distress of parent/carers of children with additional needs. |
| S/C047 | Rag Tag Toddler Group, Snitterfield Village Hall | Stratford upon Avon | South and Central | £220 | To purchase a sensory tent and equipment for the tent to be able to cater for children with additional needs at the toddler group. |
| S/C048 | Stepping Stones Nursery and Pre-School | Claverdon | South and Central | £2,281 | Replacement of shed for storage of toys and equipment and materials to create raised vegetable and flower beds. Both the nursery and baby & toddler group will have use of the garden. |
| S/C019 | Crown Community Hub (The Chain Hub) | Lillington | South and Central | £2,500 | To provide a new activity called Story Sacks for parents who would like to be able to support their child’s communication and language skills. |
| S/C006 | Acorns Primary School | Long Compton | South and Central | £2,500 | To make improvements to the outdoor space by creating an adventure playground. It will be available to the nursery, reception and children coming to stay and play sessions before they join the nursery. |
| S/C026 | Little Listeners & St Patrick’s Catholic Primary | Leamington Spa | South and Central | £2,500 | Story time group for children aged 3-5 with the aim of encouraging a love of reading for pleasure and learning. The sessions will take place within the library of St Patrick’s school (other partner in bid) and will be available for the children at the nursery. |
| S/C010 | Little Gregs Pre-School Attached to St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School |
Stratford upon Avon | South and Central | £2,500 | Offering an hr Forest School Session once a week for 12 consecutive weeks for parents who have been offered 2 year funding and their children who do not have access to outside space. |
| S/C035 | Hill Close Gardens Trust | Warwick | South and Central | £2,500 | Provide play and language workshops that engage parents so that they can become more confidant via 6 workshops that use the outdoor environment to explore children’s language and communication. |
| S/C049 | Create and Play Time Stockton PCC Stockton Parish |
Southam | South and Central | £2,500 | To develop a cohesive community group for children aged 0-5 in the village, and facilitate the transition to a school environment. |
| S/C017 | Claverdon Primary School | Claverdon | South and Central | £2,500 | To provide family fun sessions and creative activities weekly for parents/carers and their preschool children and younger siblings in the reception classroom, where both children and parents can learn and enjoy together. |
| S/C005 | Rising Stars Lillington Nursery and Primary School |
Leamington Spa | South and Central | £2,500 | To develop outside canopy to enable all weather play and all weather waterproof clothing for the 2 year olds that attend the nursery. |
| S/C009 | Bump to Three | Kenilworth | South and Central | £2,500 | To provide face-to-face ‘peer support’ training for volunteer mothers who have experience of breastfeeding and who wish to offer support to other local mothers. |
| S/C037 | Meon Vale Community Group | Stratford upon Avon | South and Central | £1,100 | To improve the learning of toddler and baby groups to help children before they enter nursery/school through the purchasing of soft play instruments, fun toys and melamine/plastic bowls,plates and baby/toddler cutlery to offer more nutritionally balanced food. |
| S/C003 | Hampton Magna Parent & Toddler Group and Pre-school (partnership) | Warwick | South and Central | £5,000 | Improving the outside space, creating a canopied play area within the community centre where both the Pre-school and Toddler group run, have a small allotment area to grow vegetables and permanent climbing equipment. |
| S/C011 | Wooton Waven Pre-School | Henley in Arden | South and Central | £2,500 | To improve the outside surface by installing soft wetpour surface or astro turf. |
| S/C007 | Entrust Care Partnership & Harbury Toddler Group | Leamington Spa | South and Central | £1,500 | To develop and enhance Harbury Toddler Group, which is run with the help of volunteers from entrust care partnership and local community. In addition to purchasing new toys and equipment, art and craft materials for Harbury Toddle Group. |
| S/C022 | Alderminster Tots | Stratford upon Avon | South and Central | £1,000 | To have one visitor per month to provide a specific session eg music and singing, physical activity and advice on healthy diets for children and feeding support for new mums. Additionally, new equipment required. |
| S/C043 | Syndenham Neighbourhood Initiatives (Partnership of Leamington Children Centres, Croft Medical Centre and SYDNI) |
Leamington Spa | South and Central | £3,971.60 | A weekly group for families with children aged 0-5, for whom English is their second language. To provide a safe and welcoming space for children and their carers as they learn English as they play. |
| S/C025 | Telford Play School | Leamington Spa | South and Central | £1,419.98 | To enable staff training and to purchase equipment such as, waterproof rain suits, waterproof gloves, bow saw, bit and brace, Willow den and planting. |
| S/C001 | Little Starts Christian Nursery | Leamington Spa | South and Central | £900 | To purchase equipment to further enhance the outside to benefit children who are not always able to go outside to play due to living in flats are due to parents always working. |
| S/C002 | Southam Church & Community Project (Partnership of GAC, Grange Pre-School, Parent & Toddler Group) |
Southam | South and Central | £2,500 | To establish new groups to diversify provision for 0-5, which will include a self-sustaining toddler gym run by parents, a co-ordinator for messy meal times 2, a family tech start plus a feasibility study (Family and Create Together) into suitability of session timings for working parents. |
| S/C014 | Clopton Nursery Trust Ltd | Stratford upon Avon | South and Central | £2,396 | To provide a forest school experience and facilities for children, in addition to training for staff. |
| S/C023 | The Priors Educations Trust | Southam | South and Central | £1,000 | To refurbish and repair outside area with climbing area, a water wall, a rope and pulley system and some additional mark making activities to improve the educational experience of reception and nursery children. |
| S/C040 | Chapter 1 | Leamington Spa | South and Central | £2,500 | To purchasing a range of garden equipment, including sandpit, scooters, swing and slide set to give the children a chance to use equipment that their parents may not be able to provide them with. |
| Total | £223,425 |